Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology

Garments Like Fading Memories & Requiems for the Dearly Departed: Undercover S/S 24

Italian artist and fashion/interior designer Cinzia Ruggeri had a penchant for infusing her creations with a whimsical and playful touch. For instance, a men's trench coat crafted from exquisite grey fabric appeared elegant yet unremarkable at first glance, but it harbored a delightful secret: one pocket was lined with luxurious blue velvet, while another was adorned with sumptuous red silk. One featured an appliqué of a champagne cork, while another bore an image of a diamond. By turning these pockets inside out, the wearer could convey their mood to others.

However, Ruggeri's creativity didn't stop there. As she once explained, "I would put little messages or objects into the lining of some garments so that when a hole would open in the pockets, the wearer would find them and smile or laugh." Sometimes these objects, such as pearls and tiny dogs trapped in a black tulle cropped top, were visible as the garment was made in a sheer fabric.

These ingenious tricks served to establish a connection between the designer and the wearer, encouraging contemplation and amusement.

On one occasion, Ruggeri scattered bits and pieces of Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" across different labels of various garments, leaving those who purchased them intrigued by the fragmented narrative.

Another designer known for concealing "surprises" in the lining of garments was Alexander McQueen. The late fashion designer claimed to have stitched the phrase "I am a c*nt" into the lining of a jacket made for Prince Charles during his apprenticeship on Savile Row, a rebellious act known only to the designer himself who had stitched the garment.

Fast forward to Paris Fashion Week, where Jun Takahashi unveiled a series of suits, jackets, and bombers crafted from translucent, ghostly fabrics on Undercover's Spring/Summer 2024 runway. Within these garments, Takahashi ingeniously trapped an assortment of objects. Between the layers of sheer fabric, you could indeed spot playing cards, silk flowers, blades, safety pins and crosses.

While some designs revealed the inner construction of wardrobe staples like pants and jackets, others, including sweatshirts, were enshrouded in black tulle - a technique occasionally used in museums to protect delicate embellished pieces, but that here assumed a very different meaning as they hinted at death.

Life and death were also juxtaposed in the garments that trapped flowers behind tulle decorated with spiders, themes that made you think about beauty, but also at decay, sepulchres and corpses in coffins, and at that perennial link between fashion and death. Besides, a transparent trench integrated feathery wings in the back, maybe a reference to Wim Wenders' 1988 film "Wings of Desire," (also included in the runway soundtrack).

At times the effect of incorporating these objects in the garments called to mind an X-ray, but the actual purpose of this trick was to envelop everything in an atmosphere of melancholia, death, and mourning that pointed at the collection's main theme, "Deep Mist."

The show took place in a dimly lit venue reminiscent of an underground parking lot, with four crystal chandeliers askew on the raw concrete floor, enveloped in sheer materials that emitted a soft, ethereal glow.

Variations to the collection were added by the prints of German artist Neo Rauch's surrealist unsettling paintings, integrated into the garments. Yet, their colours, and in particular a blue and yellow palette that bore echoes of Van Gogh's "Starry Night", brought vibrancy to the collection.

Takahashi also incorporated in the collection his own "Portrait Without Eyes" oil paintings (in some ways reminiscent of Magritte's) from his first exhibition, "They See More Than You Can See," recently held in Tokyo. To capture the texture and surface of the oil paintings, the designer employed textured and voluminous frill materials.

For the grand finale, when the venue's lights dimmed, three models appeared wearing strapless dresses with skirts that seemed to emit light. Initially resembling lamps, these dresses revealed a small landscape within, an ecosystem featuring flowers and dancing butterflies (released after the show). These terrarium skirt dresses served as a tribute by the designer to loved ones he had lost.

These approaches by Cinzia Ruggeri, Alexander McQueen, and Jun Takahashi differ in their intent. By integrating small objects and messages in her garments, Ruggeri sought a personal connection with the wearers. The objects she hid in her designs, like treasures lost and found, prompted wearers to think or laugh or posed them intriguing dilemmas. McQueen's act was instead an irreverent, hidden statement of defiance against authority that only the tailor knew about.

In contrast, Takahashi established a dialogue between the designer, the wearer, and the observer who sees what the garments contain and becomes a sort of third actor in this imaginary conversation between designer and wearer. In this case the objects trapped in the designs also carried a deeper significance, representing memories - the key theme to unlock the collection.

"Garments flow like a fading memory - a surreal world appearing and disappearing in the dark," Takahashi explained in the press release for the collection, revealing that he alluded through his creations to the loss of loved ones, and conceived the show as a requiem in their honor.

Fashion & Activism: Donatella Versace's Call for LGBTQ+ Rights in Italy

The fashion industry may occasionally resort to shallow slogans, but it should not shy away from addressing critical social issues and decisions that could impede people's liberties.

Last Sunday, for example, as Milan Fashion Week came to an end, during an awarding ceremony, Donatella Versace, creative director of the fashion house founded by her brother Gianni Versace since his murder in 1997, took a stand against the anti-LGBTQ+ policies of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right-led coalition.

Speaking at Milan's La Scala during the CNMI (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana - National Chamber for Italian Fashion) Sustainable Fashion Awards 2023, Donatella Versace expressed her concerns, highlighting a government policy that recognizes only the biological parent in same-sex couples as the official parent. She decried these actions as an infringement on personal freedoms and called for a collective effort to defend these rights.

"Here in Italy, it has never been more important for us to champion minority voices. Our government is set on taking away the rights of individuals to live as they wish," she stated. "The freedom to walk down the street with your head held high and without fear, whatever your identity. The freedom to start a family and live the way we want. The freedom to love who we want. We all have a duty to fight for our freedom."

"At a time when trans people are still victims of terrible violence, when children of same-sex couples are not considered their children and when minorities are targeted by new legislation … we still have much to do," Versace added.

In a poignant moment, Versace fondly recalled the day her brother Gianni came out to her, emphasizing her unwavering love and acceptance for him, regardless of whom he chose to love (yet it is worth remembering that the family had a feud with Gianni's boyfriend Antonio D'Amico, after the designer's death; D'Amico died in 2022).

Donatella Versace referred in her speech to a contentious new policy, where the Ministry of Interior now insists that in cases where same-sex couples have children via surrogacy abroad, only one biological parent should be registered on their child's birth certificates.

For a period, certain municipalities in Italy recorded both parents of the same gender on their children's birth certificates. However, this year, under the leadership of Giorgia Meloni (from neofascist party Brothers of Italy), the Italian government initiated a requirement for councils to register only the biological parent.

Consequently, some cities removed the name of the non-biological gay parents from their children's birth certificates. This has left these families in a sort of limbo, as the second father or mother has virtually no authority to make essential decisions, such as taking the child to the doctor or picking them up from school, without the legal parent's authorization. If the legal parent passes away or becomes seriously ill, the surviving partner has no legal rights over the children, potentially leading to the children becoming wards of the state or being placed with other relatives.

The government has defended its decision to restrict the inclusion of gay parents on birth certificates, asserting that this action, in line with a ruling from Italy's top appeals court, will not hinder children's access to education or medical services through their sole legal parent. Yet, navigating bureaucratic processes, medical appointments, or meetings with teachers is already challenging when caring for an orphaned nephew, niece, or grandchild in Italy but lacking official legal guardianship on paper. Consequently, same-sex parents in Italy are enduring a harrowing ordeal in their daily lives. The quickest solution would be to officially recognize same-sex parenthood.

Italy legalized same-sex civil unions in 2016 but refrained from granting gay couples the right to adopt due to opposition from right-wing parties and the Catholic church. Additionally, IVF remains prohibited for homosexual couples in Italy. Moreover, the Italian parliament passed a bill in July imposing substantial fines of up to €1 million (£855,000) and prison sentences of up to two years on Italians who seek surrogacy abroad to have children (a 2004 law already banned surrogacy within Italy).

Italy ranks among the worst countries in Western Europe concerning LGBTQ+ rights: the country approved same-sex civil unions in 2016, becoming the last major Western nation to do so. Yet Italy still prohibits same-sex marriage, "stepchildren adoption," and surrogacy, with these restrictions being attributed to opposition from the Catholic Church by advocacy groups. Meloni's government is exacerbating the erosion of the few rights accrued by the community thus far.

Versace, who received a prize for equity and inclusivity, attended the awards ceremony with Alessandro Zan, a Democratic party lawmaker responsible for drafting in 2018 a bill aimed at expanding anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community and at banning discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. Unfortunately, the legislation had stalled even before the Meloni government took office.

The audience at La Scala responded with a standing ovation to Versace's speech. But, while gay rights activists commended her for her forthright challenge to the government's homophobic policies, they also urged the entire fashion community to take a more active role in this fight. Donatella Versace is the first and, so far, only prominent figure in the Italian fashion industry to openly and explicitly confront the government's homophobic politics. Evidently, many others are hesitant, fearing potential repercussions and the loss of consumers.

The Italian fashion industry has traditionally been conservative if not overtly right wing (the Fontana sisters were very Conservatives; Dolce & Gabbana often claimed they are right-wing supporters; even Santo Versace, Gianni's brother, was an MP for Berlusconi's party until 2011), while, as a young woman, Miuccia Prada joined the Italian Communist Party.

Versace has so far used her platform to champion LGBTQ+ rights: in June 2022, Capri Holdings, the parent company of her fashion label, established the Versace Foundation that provides backing for initiatives and endeavors aimed at fostering awareness and solidarity for the LGBTQ+ community.

"My friends and my team are not defined by race, religion, age, gender, or sexual orientation, but by creativity, openness, joy, and kindness, the values that truly matter. If we were all more welcoming and understanding towards each other, what an extraordinary world it would be," Versace concluded at the awarding ceremony.

Abolish Patriarchy (And, While You're At It, Eliminate "Properhood" & Feminist Capitalism): Dior S/S 24

Having an insider's perspective in the fashion world, doesn't guarantee a complete understanding of how this industry operates. I'm not referring at understanding intricate financial decisions about mergers and acquisitions, but rather to certain contentious choices, decisions or statements (or actions such as sudden changes in creative directors just when they might have struck a balance) that quite often seem bizarre or inappropriate. For example, quite often we are told that this industry empowers women, instilling strength and pride in who they are and what they do.

However, as soon as these proclamations are made, designers introduce collections featuring perplexing items or accessories, such as super high-heeled shoes that render walking nearly impossible, absurdly minuscule bags that can barely hold a lipstick tube (yet become the next must-have It bag…), and other assorted bewildering concepts.

There are designers like Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior who genuinely strive to empower women, collaborating with artisans and artists for collections, shows, and photographic campaigns. Yet, unexpectedly, the brand occasionally stumbles into a swamp of clichéd feminist gestures, leaving one to wonder why this inconsistency exists.

On Tuesday, during Dior's S/S 24 runway presentation at the Tuileries gardens in Paris, models paraded while slogans and images from Elena Bellantoni's "Not Her" installations illuminated the surrounding screens. Bellantoni created collages that attempted to subvert advertising imagery and that featured feminist slogans.

One might have expected to encounter something fierce, something that packed a visceral punch, like a reflection on the alarming number of femicides that occurred in 2023 (at the time of writing, 80 women were killed in Italy, Chiuri's home country, since the beginning of the year). Perhaps these reflections could have been followed by a KLF-style exclamation, such as "What The F*ck Is Going On?" Instead, what we got were rather surreally silly, ordinary or tepid declarations, such as "I don't belong to anyone else: I always make a phone call to myself" and "I am not your doll, I am not your game", a rather obvious assertion that anyway clashed with the guests and the models.

After all, on the runway, there were beautiful women adorned in impeccably tailored branded attires, with logos prominently displayed on accessories, demonstrating the fact that they actually did "belong" to somebody - a brand. The same can be said about the guests - celebrities, brand ambassadors and influencers dressed in borrowed attire that underscored their loyalty to the label. In a nutshell, they all "belonged" to Dior in that moment.

There was almost a reflection of intents between the slogans and the clothes on the runway: both were "proper".

Dior's S/S 24 collection featured long pleated skirts, delicate cropped cardigans and cobweb-like knitted lace dresses, while the 1948 off-one-shoulder "Abandon" dress by Dior was reinvented as an asymmetrical top or a shirt.

Faded blue workwear pants and pinafore dresses also made an appearance for that faux working girl attitude; boots were adorned with flames to symbolise how these strong women walked through fire, but there were also cute square toe ballerina shoes à la Miu Miu and elegant gladiator-style mary janes.

Blurred visions of the Eiffel Tower, the iconic landmark and symbol of elegance and grace, based on a photograph by Brigitte Niedermair, maps of Paris blurred with a tie-dye effect and sun symbols provided some variations.

Throughout the collection, gothic elements emerged, reminiscent of Wednesday Addams, mingling with inspirations drawn from historical figures on Chiuri's mood board, including Ingrid Bergman as Joan of Arc and Maria Callas as Medea. Hints of witches or perhaps nuns were interspersed throughout the collection, but everything was extremely proper and well-balanced. Just like the supposedly feminist slogans.

The latter were purged of any strong language, a trick that made them sound banal: statements like "Fuchsia with yellow is not a marshmallow, it's my way to highlight what is wrong and what is right" was simply cringing like those things you'd write in your diary when you were 9 years old.

"Let my imagination draw the geography of my body," stated another, and, sure, you go girl, do it, but remember that, eventually, a man, an ad, or a celebrity will still tell you that your body is somehow flawed.

There was also a slogan with an architectural twist about it - "Our individual and collective transformation takes place in a radical and creative space" - did that mean that if you live in a crap place you can change f*ck all?

Besides, the list of slogans featured a remixed version of the sentence in the speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd ("bread for all, and roses too", that inspired the title of the poem "Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim). In this case the slogan recited: "We want kids, but we want roses too." Wait, what if I don't want kids and I want roses too? That a crime? What if I can't have kids and I want roses too. Looks like these options weren't contemplated.

The one that left me most puzzled was "I am not only a mother, wife, daughter, I am a woman," that sounded like neo-fascist Giorgia Meloni who, before being elected and becoming Italy's Prime Minister, often did these speeches in which she screamed she's a woman, a mother and a Christian (yes, so what, darling?).

It left me puzzled because what happens if I'm a daughter, but I'm not a mother nor a wife, am I half a woman then? (I prefer Florence + The Machine's line "I am no mother, I am no bride, I am king" from the song "King", do you mind?).

My favorite statement remained instead "Capitalism won't take her where she really wants to go." This one is genuinely messed up, because, you see, capitalism may propel "her" quite far if she's a savvy investor and entrepreneur.

However, if capitalism won't lead her anywhere, why should she invest in a designer bag? Purchasing a luxury fashion item crafted by a renowned house is indeed the embodiment of capitalism. So, what's the message here – beware of capitalism but indulge in luxury clothes that make you feel as if you were rejecting capitalism?

I'm confused you know. Confused by the lack of urgency, poetry, humour and content in all this and disappointed by the lack of  swearwords that may have put emphasis in some of the slogans. I have a feeling that simpler concepts may have worked better - "Why is it that everything is a f*cking mess for women?" "Why is it that it takes longer for women to get a f*cking cancer diagnosis?", "Why are men still f*cking killing women?" and "Why is it that men can write about f*cking womenswear and women can't write about f*cking menswear?" See? They already sound more interesting.

But this is the sort of trick that fashion loves, making you think it's empowering you while it is selling you another empty box, this one specifically labelled capitalist feminism. You may argue that Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" movie paved the way, with it's feminist messages with the stamp of approval of Mattel, but at Dior this trend was already fashionable. It started around 6 years ago when Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's quote "We should all be feminists" was printed on an overpriced T-shirt and suddenly seemed to lose its power.

But that's usually what happens to certain messages when they get appropriated by fashion, they lose their purpose: a while back, on Prada’s runway (S/S18) Angela Davis was turned into a decorative motif devoid of any political meaning, sucked into a fashion cauldron with no purpose, a missed opportunity.

Consequently, you're left perplexed and bewildered: fashion surrounds us, but the industry is growing increasingly distant, almost detached from real life, particularly from the very women it purports to empower, all the while professing its love for ordinary women.

In the meantime, real women carry on with their lives, left to fend for themselves. When they say, "I am not your doll" and break up with a boyfriend, they may end up being stalked, beaten, even killed by jealous and resentful men. They might add, "I am not your game," yet still be subjected to assault and then, post-rape, be labeled as liars and provocateurs as the tables are often turned against them.

Since taking the helm as Dior's first female creative director of womenswear in 2017, Maria Grazia Chiuri often faced critics who perceive her efforts to provide practical wardrobe options for women as uninspiring commercialism.

There is nothing wrong with designing wearable clothes, but you wish the brand didn't use feminism like a drunkard uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination.

Indeed, superficial feminist slogans do little to benefit women, and perhaps abandoning the "polite" and "proper" slogans in favor of a more bold, impassioned, and unapologetic approach (think about Artemisia Gentileschi who, raped by Agostino Tassi in 1611, painted energetic and violent scenes of Judith slaying Holofernes...) could ignite more meaningful change in the fashion industry and in real women's lives.

Women, Power, and Cancer: The Lancet Commission Advocates for a Feminist Approach to Cancer

In the previous post, we looked at the potential health repercussions of uncomfortable clothing items for women. But, aside from jokes and ironic comments, you wonder how many illnesses linked with fashion go undetected. Who knows, for example, if the synthetic fibers used in our garments, the dyes or other factors could potentially play a role in the onset of minor health issues that might escalate into more severe conditions. A pressing example is the connection between our clothing choices and cancer. Regrettably, we lack definitive answers. Nevertheless, there is a pressing need for research in this direction, like a proper research into health and fashion.

In the meantime, The Lancet has produced an interesting report focused on women and cancer. The report emphasizes the impact of gender bias and discrimination, compounded by factors such as age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and gender identity, which collectively marginalize women and limit their rights and opportunities related to cancer.

This report examined women and cancer in 185 countries, identifying a series of issues: while cancer ranks among the top causes of premature death in women globally, women's health is often narrowly focused on reproductive and maternal health, leading to disparities in cancer care.

As The Lancet highlights, this focus on reproductive and maternal health is a patriarchal construct aligned with narrow anti-feminist definitions of women's value and roles in society as "women have approximately the same burden of cancer as men, representing 48% of new cases and 44% of deaths worldwide." 

Of the 2.3 million women who die prematurely from cancer annually, 1.5 million deaths could be avoided through prevention and early detection, and another 800,000 through equitable access to optimal cancer care.

Other key findings of the report include the fact that primary prevention of cancer in women is challenging, and there is a need for further research into the causes of cancer in women, including occupational and environmental factors. Imagine that even the causes of breast cancer - the most common cancer among women globally - are poorly understood. 

Besides, the financial burden of cancer disproportionately affects women, often resulting in severe consequences for their families, even in the presence of quality healthcare services.

A gender analysis conducted across eight Asian countries revealed alarming statistics: nearly three-quarters of newly diagnosed women with cancer faced catastrophic expenditures within a year of diagnosis, where they spent 30% or more of their annual household income on cancer-related costs. This assessment did not even factor in indirect expenses, but it underscores the urgent need for a gender-inclusive approach to cancer investments, which can provide valuable insights for shaping policies related to cancer prevention, care, and control.

Furthermore, the dominance of patriarchal structures looms large in cancer care, research, and policymaking. Decision-makers in positions of power dictate which aspects receive priority, funding, and attention.

Globally, men significantly outnumber women in leadership roles within hospitals, treatment centers, research institutes, as editors-in-chief of cancer research journals, and as lead authors of cancer research papers.

Last but not least, unpaid caregiving for cancer patients is predominantly carried out by women, and a feminist economics approach is required to recognize its value.

By acknowledging these challenges, imbalances of power and forms of discrimination, there is an opportunity to transform how women interact with the cancer healthcare system. These issues warrant contemplation by all stakeholders, from patients and caregivers to professionals involved in the field. Let's hope that, at some point, The Lancet will focus on diseases and disorders that may be triggered by specific materials employed to make garments and accessories.

In the meantime, if you're interested in fashion and cancer research you can check out also past issues of The Lancet and go back to previous essays like the one from 2014 about the gowns designed by Jacqueline Firkins, an interdisciplinary researcher at the University of British Columbia, inspired by micrographs of cancer cells. In collaboration with the biologist Christian Naus, she created "Fashioning Cancer", a series of ten dresses in rich colours and textured fabrics recreating patterns that closely resembled microscope slides of cancerous processes.

Warning: Pussies on Fire (Literally)

Ever experienced the sheer delight of acquiring that coveted garment or accessory, only to realize it's essentially a one-way ticket to the medieval era, complete with a complimentary torture session?

Yes, it's an absolute truth that some fashion items are as comfortable as a cactus pillow. You've got materials that could double as sandpaper, or if you're lucky, synthetic fabrics that transform you into a walking sauna. And let's not forget the shapewear trapping you into an endurance challenge, gasping for every breath. Designers will tell you that fashion is not supposed to be comfortable and that, to look amazing, you must suffer and sitting is anyway overrated (most grand gowns of the kind you see on the Met Gala red carpet do not allow the wearer to sit down…).

But, hold on, there's a new trend these days and it's all about designing clothing that doubles as a punishment device for your nether regions that should instead be celebrated (think about art projects such as Jamie McCartney's The Great Wall of Vulva). Who knew fashion could be this masochistic?

A decade ago, the obsession with pussies began its journey into the spotlight, thanks to the unfortunate arrival of the word "vajazzle." What began as a trend to bedazzle the nether regions with gemstones, rhinestones, and glitter, soon transformed into a hygiene mania instilled by the fear of stinking mainly engrained in women's minds by a patriarchal society that thinks women should smell like violet and roses down there.

Enter the era of internal glitter bombs, jade eggs peddled as detoxifiers, and the infamous vaginal steaming, popularized by none other than the queen of all things vaginal, Gwyneth Paltrow. Yet, it turns out most of these products (and douching too, for that matter) disrupt the delicate balance of vaginal bacteria.

Gynecologists will be the first to tell you that your lady bits don't require the same rigorous cleaning standards as your kitchen floor. Many of these perfumed soaps, gels, and antiseptics wreak indeed havoc on the healthy bacterial balance and pH levels, causing irritation.

But now, there's a new trend that threatens women's health and confidence. Just this September, rapper Doja Cat had a cringe-worthy experience at the Victoria's Secret World Tour 2023 event in New York. She rocked up in a black V-neck slip dress with spaghetti straps that seemed to feature a built-in thong.

In a series of since-deleted Instagram stories, Doja Cat didn't hold back her feelings about the outfit. "It's crazy when you got a dress on and your whole vagina is out the whole night and the straps on the dress pull ur tits all the way down to your knees and all you asked for was a slip dress (...) I'm in my complaining era, my fuckin karen era. A bitch coulda got a UTI but the hole real resilient. The fuck."

And then, she delved into vivid descriptions of her outfit's discomfort. "When I tell u the panty was built into the dress so when i put it on, the shoulder straps pulled the strings up through my cervix and split me like a block of sharp cheddar cheese. A bitch never thought she could get man handled by a piece of fabric. The panty on this contraption took me under the bleachers and ransacked my shit."

In a way Doja Cat managed to find humor in this wardrobe malfunction, but there may be also items produced by luxury fashion houses that may leave you itching for more comfort Miu's embellished pants from the brand's A/W 23-24 runway collection are for example now available at the modest price of €4,200.

There are different options, in pink, pistachio, and gold, with a zip on the back (so you're supposed to put them on like a skirt, and zip them up at the back) or in corduroy and with a very narrow crotch, but in charming autumnal shades, including "ochre" and "camel brown" (impossible not to think about the expression "camel toe" here - who came up with the name for this color of tiny pants?). Of course, you'll need to pair them with a soft polo neck and translucent tights.

Perhaps Miuccia had good intentions (and she has a soft spot for visible pants under skirts - remember Miu Miu's Spring/Summer 1996 collection that featured early examples of the naked dressing trend?), as she wanted to liberate women, but, alas, most of us are not Edie Sedgwick.

Besides, the narrow crotch on the camel ones and the rather large sequins on the heavily embellished designs make you wonder if they may be comfortable at all.

Yet, judging from the models' expressions on Miu Miu's site, comfort isn't essential while wearing these designs. So, sorry Miuccia, we mere mortals may not have the money to buy our vaginas the pants of the season, but we should still rejoice: our pussies will not be on fire, and therefore they may still be able to bite (in fact, why don't we turn around this trend and do a book - "Pussies on Fire" - on all the garments that, throughout the decades caused rashes and wardrobe malfunctions to women's nether regions?).

Impiraressa, A Multi-Threaded Podcast: Episode Two - "Tomato Girl Summer" My Ass

Narratives, much like seeds, possess a dynamic nature; they evolve, expand, and journey in often unexpected directions.

Episode 2 of Impiraressa starts with the fleeting "Tomato Girl Summer" trend, enveloped in Mediterranean vibes and characterized by an idealized depiction of carefree summer experiences.

From there, it delves into personal recollections and dives deep into the distressing reality of migrant agricultural laborers in Italy, particularly within the tomato harvesting sector, where labor conditions starkly resemble modern-day slavery.

The exploration draws striking parallels between the agricultural industry and the fast fashion world, illuminating the exploitation of low-cost labor and the glaring disparity between professed ethical standards and the harsh truth.

Ultimately, the message is clear: trends may come and go, but human exploitation endures. While individually we may feel powerless, our collective efforts to scrutinize and question the systems, producers, and products perpetuating this exploitation can drive positive transformation. It is of paramount importance that we do not avert our gaze from the suffering of others, for the scars of trauma persist long after trends have faded into obscurity.

Music for Episode Two:

"Johnny Sera (Sigla Prima Puntata)", written and performed by Franco Pisano, published by Kutmusic Italhouse Produzioni Musicali, recorded in 1966, released by Kutmusic, 2023.

"Salute Paisà (Hello Neighbor)", written by Giuseppe Giacomantonio and Vincenzo Perugini, performed by Quartetto Silano, published by Kutmusic Italhouse Produzioni Musicali, recorded in 1961, released by Kutmusic, 2021.

"La Passata (Wet Tomato Love Potion)" and "La Bollitura (Boiling Up Tomato Bliss)", performed by The Frog, published by Kutmusic Italhouse Produzioni Musicali, released by Irene Disques, 2023. 

"City_Demented" and "City_Extraterrestrial", written and performed by Aldo Lanzini Aviance, courtesy of the Artist. 

Impiraressa is brought to you by Irenebrination and Kutmusic. All the music featured in this episode is fully licensed through Kutmusic. Impiraressa is available on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Samsung Podcast, Podchaser and BoomPlay.

Refugee Crisis as a Crisis of Humanity: Award-Winning "Green Border" by Agnieszka Holland Faces Government Criticism in Poland

At the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival, Matteo Garrone’s film "Io Capitano", won the Silver Lion for Best Director, while the Special Jury Prize was awarded to "Zielona Granica" (Green Border) by Agnieszka Holland. Both the films tell stories of migrants and refugees.

In Holland's brutal drama, the Polish film-maker follows the vicissitudes of a group of people - refugees from Syria, a Polish border guard and a woman who joins Polish activists.

Their lives intertwine at the "green border", the forests between Belarus and Poland. While the film is a fiction, the stories it tells are inspired by real-life events in 2021 when thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa were trapped in hazardous conditions on the EU's eastern frontier.

Making them believe that they could have crossed on foot into Poland and be in the European Union through the Białowieża Forest, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko authorized the entry of asylum seekers in his country. However, this act was not a humanitarian gesture, but a way to revenge towards the European Union's sanctions against Belarus and put Poland under pressure.

The refugees turned indeed into political pawns, used by Lukashenko and then mistreated by Polish border patrol that in turn reacted by pushing them back and condemning them to a life of hardship and even death in the forests.

This situation has pushed Poland towards xenophobia, something that benefits Lukashenko (but also Russian President Vladimir Putin).

Shot in dramatic black and white, the film is a way to ponder on human behavior in the interactions between its characters.

In the film there are indeed moments of ambiguity and fear, such as when a Polish farmer helps a refugee, but triggers suspicions he may be alerting the authorities about her presence, or when a Belarusian border guard degrades a refugee over the price of water. These incidents, alongside physical violence, erode the characters' sense of humanity, generating fear and mistrust among them, and insinuating doubts and moral qualms (the border guard in Poland expected to carry out brutal actions, begins to question their necessity).

One final dilemma appears towards the end of the film, with a final note on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the border force receiving thousands of Ukrainian refugees, compared to the smaller number of darker-skinned refugees from Africa and the Middle East rejected at the border.

The film has got a dichotomic structure with sections that call to mind movies about the Eastern Front during the Second World War, and more futuristic parts that represent tales of survival in a world that has lost its humanity and that point at the post-apocalyptic genre.

But while the film serves as crucial cinematic testimony to the current events unfolding in Europe and received positive reviews from critics, it was condemned by Polish government officials.

The film was released in Poland two days ago by Kino Świat, just weeks before the country's pivotal migration-focused elections (on October 15; on the same day of the elections, the government has scheduled a referendum on migration policy).

The right-wing conservative government is strongly opposing the film (that some politicians haven't even watched...) as it claims it tarnishes Poland's reputation.

Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the right-wing populist and national-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS; the party aims to secure a third term in power thanks to its anti-immigration stance; yet a visa fraud scandal reportedly linked to consulates in Asia and Africa, where visas were allegedly issued in exchange for bribes, has somewhat undermined the government's credibility on this issue) and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, organized a press conference last week to criticize the film.

During the conference, he expressed his belief that the portrayal of Poland's border guards, army, and police was deeply derogatory; Polish officials also argue that security personnel protected Poland from a migration flow instigated by Lukashenko and Putin.

Kaczynski claimed that Holland is aligning with Putin's supposed agenda and accused her of "oikophobia," a contempt for her own homeland.

Stanisław Żaryn, the government's plenipotentiary for the security of the Polish information space, accused Holland of being "out of touch with reality" and making "insinuations used to attack Poland, Poles, and the government." Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, of the Catholic nationalist Sovereign Poland party (part of a governing alliance with the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS), which is leading in polls ahead of the national elections with a campaign focused on migration, and on the wall constructed between 2021 and 2022 on the border with Belarus to keep out refugees), likened the film (though he admitted he hadn't watched it) to Nazi Germany propaganda, and in a separate address, referred to Holland as a Stalinist.

Holland, whose father was Jewish and whose mother, a Roman Catholic, took part in the Polish resistance against the Nazi occupation, demanded an apology from Ziobro and announced her intent to pursue defamation charges against him.

President Andrzej Duda also criticized the film, suggesting that a better choice would have been a film focusing on Poland's response to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Besides, right-wing groups targeted social media pages and film-related websites promoting the movie in Poland, attempting to disrupt screenings attended by Holland.

Yet the film, born out of Holland's frustration with the government's handling of Poland's emergence as a migration route (she felt it was her duty to shoot it), serves as a deeper pondering on the collective loss of humanity and as a reflection on the geopolitical factors that push individuals to their limits. The traumatized border guard, tormented by his actions and the attitudes of his colleagues, turns indeed into another victim in this narrative.

When governments and politicians express fear of artworks, books, or films and argue that they cast their country in a negative light, it often indicates that these works are addressing crucial issues. In 1959, after the release of Vittorio De Sica's neorealist masterpiece "Umberto D", about a pensioner living in Italy and struggling to get by and contemplating suicide, Giulio Andreotti, at the time Undersecretary for Entertainment, stated: "While it's true that evil can also be fought by exposing its rawest aspects, it's also true that if people are mistakenly led to believe that Umberto D. represents Italy in the mid-20th century, De Sica will have done a disservice to his homeland."

The main aim of Agnieszka Holland's "Green Border" is not paying a disservice to Poland, but calling all governments worldwide to reflect on the plight of migrants and refugees, urging us all to contemplate our humanity in a world where it seems to be steadily diminishing. When the director received the Special Jury Award at the Venice Film Festival, she emphasized that the situation at the border remains unchanged: "People are still hiding in forests, deprived and stripped of their dignity, their human rights and their safety; some of them will lose their lives here in Europe, not because we don't have the resources to help them, but because we don't want to."

Satire & Social Commentary with an Architectural Twist: Ilana Harris-Babou's Artistic Approach

You can criticize something by ripping it apart in an angry and resentful way; or you can also do it more elegantly and with a pinch of humor as Ilana Harris-Babou does. The interdisciplinary artist producing sculptures, installations and videos, has often employed irony to look at painful realities or at the contradictions of the American dream.

For example, one of her past projects, entitled "Reparation Hardware" (2018) moved from luxury design, trendy interior pieces and clothes to ponder on the legacy of disenfranchisement hidden within the aesthetic of the upscale American home-furnishings company.

The company's promotional videos on YouTube may look at labor, value, and inheritance tied to restoring materials such as old wood, but in her project Harris-Babou explored these values linking them to historical injustices like the fact that, post-Civil War, formerly enslaved people were allowed just forty acres and a mule, dismantling in this way the grandiosity of the original videos.

The project becomes therefore a way to go beyond parody and shed light on the struggle of Black Americans who navigate a society that often reduces them to mere objects despite their resilience and resourcefulness. This particular project also questions the alignment of social justice with consumerism, raising a dilemma on whether wealth or buying power alone can serve as a form of reparation. Black Americans have faced systematic denial of inheritance, which causes an understandable yearning for luxury or fashionable and trendy products.

Yet Harris-Babou goes beyond this point challenging the notion that wealth or purchasing power alone can't rectify historical injustices and absolve consumers from the guilt they may be feeling about a variety of issues - from climate change to slavery. In brief, design falsely promises redemption. There is a twist in this project: despite facing relentless attempts to reduce them to mere objects, Black Americans have managed to create value and meaning from seemingly nothing, exposing a failure of the American dream.

In another project, "Decision Fatigue" (2020) the artist looked at cooking shows, self-improvement, design, and the beauty industry. To prepare for this project Harris-Babou attended The Class, a fitness workshop promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle brand Goop. She then proceeded to turn a gallery into a mock boutique with a pink front wall reminiscent of Glossier's flagship store, with ceramics of skincare products, soap dishes, jade rollers, and yoni eggs on display. Resin "soaps" included surprising elements like car air fresheners and Cheeto puffs; the latter were also turned into the miracle ingredient of a surreal makeup tutorial for a face mask featuring, Harris-Babou's mother, Sheila.

While the beauty and wellness industries provide ample material for satire, Harris-Babou approaches her critique with humor, gentleness, and a non-judgmental stance.

A new project at Storefront for Architecture will continue along this path, but also explore childhood memories and reinterpret the playful rituals embedded in the streetscapes of Central Brooklyn.

"Under My Feet" (October 7th - December 16th) moves from the artist's own experiences of growing up in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, East Flatbush, and Crown Heights - predominantly African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and West Indian immigrant neighborhoods. While reimagining the sounds, colors and textures of these areas, Harris-Babou reconstructs her sense of home and belonging in this project.

The exhibition yearns for the innocence of childhood, of games played on the sidewalks - hopping over cracks, sitting on cellar gates under bodegas, enjoying music, and contemplating the vibrant signs above. But it also tackles intimacy and dispossession, adding an architectural element to the theme and conceiving the key locations of the neighborhood as a protective environment.

"Under My Feet" is a way to acknowledge and reconnect with a fading landscape of freedom and support amidst gentrification and displacement, but, through it, Harris-Babou also explores the future possibilities ingrained in the sidewalks and storefronts of Nostrand Avenue, Church Avenue, and Flatbush Avenue, so that the gallery becomes the locus where intergenerational businesses and independent retail establishments - hubs of liberating pedagogies for Afro-diasporic imaginations - can be celebrated.

A Legacy of Strength: "Black Venus" @ Somerset House, London

The subject of women's body objectification is frequently discussed and the Hottentot Venus can serve as a notable example of both objectification and racism.

This epithet was given to Saartje Baartman, a woman enslaved by Dutch colonists. Born in 1789 in South Africa, Baartman was exhibited in Europe as part of a "freak show" due to her non-Western body type, leading to caricatured depictions that perpetuated the exoticization and othering of Black women in Western culture. The prints and engravings of the Hottentot Venus usually portray her in a nonconfrontational side profile, like an object under scrutiny.

Artist Renee Cox moved from these representations to upturn the tables: in her portrait entitled "HOTT-EN-TOT" (1994), Cox poses like the Hottentot Venus, but she looks directly at the viewer, locking eyes, reversing that objectifying gaze.

Both the images are part of the "Black Venus" exhibition (closing on 24th September) at London's Somerset House. 

Curated by Aindrea Emelife, "Black Venus" is another version of the 2022 exhibition presented at New York's Fotografiska and includes over 40 contemporary mainly photographic artworks, a selection of archival images from 1793 to 1930, over 19 new works and 6 UK-based artists.

The event examines the historical representation of Black women and aims to establish a legacy and track the evolution of how Black women have been perceived and allowed agency over their own image throughout history.

The exhibition takes into consideration three key figures that influenced Western perceptions of the Black female body: Saartje Baartman, "The Voyage of the Sable Venus, from Angola to the West Indies", a 1793 etching by Thomas Stothard, and the Jezebel. 

The etching was a prominent illustration in a highly circulated 1798 book about the history of the British Colonies, written by Bryan Edwards, an amateur historian, British expatriate and enslaver who owned seven plantations in Jamaica.

The illustrator, as explained by Emelife, represents a way to whitewashing and even romanticize the transatlantic slave trade.

Drawing inspiration from Sandro Botticelli's renowned work, "The Birth of Venus" (1485-1486), the artist portrays a Black woman, referred to as the "Sable Venus" by the artist himself, standing on a seashell. She is surrounded by white cherubs and is being pulled by a mythical pair of fish harnessed to the reins she holds. To her left, Triton carries the British flag and guides the procession across the ocean, gazing at the woman with apparent desire.

This widely circulated image simultaneously fetishized and erased the real-life horrors that a Black woman would have endured during such a journey. It perpetuated a violently inaccurate narrative among the educated Western elite at a time when alternative visual information on the subject would have been scarce and similarly distorted (think also about fascist expeditions in Africa, and at the ways Black women were portrayed by Mussolini's regime and sexually exploited by his soldiers).

The show's third inspiring figure is the Jezebel, incarnated by Josephine Baker, who represented a new vision of Black female sexuality.

Baker's journey from the Midwest to Paris in 1925 transformed her into a new archetype of Black womanhood in popular culture, challenging racial stereotypes.

In New York, Baker's initial publicized role in The Chocolate Dandies (1924) involved darkening her skin tone and adopting caricatured traits to amuse the audience.

Upon arriving in Paris, Baker maintained a playful and self-deprecating style, that at the same time satirized Western’s audiences limited views of Black beauty, but evolved into a burlesque sex symbol, fulfilling colonialist sexual fantasies with her body and persona. Reviews of her iconic 1925 French debut, La Revue Nègre, often described her using animalistic metaphors. Emelife suggests that Baker used self-awareness as a tool to challenge racial prejudice.

Josephine Baker also turned into a civil rights icon and played a crucial role in the French resistance during the Nazi occupation. She remains the only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral. Her influence extended to a wide range of creative figures, from Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso to Mick Jagger and Diana Ross.

Ming Smith's portrait "Me as Josephine" (1986), showing the artist posing as Baker, is an investigation of how Black women's sexuality has been demonized due to its power.

The show's artists span generations, from Amber Pinkerton, born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1997, to Coreen Simpson, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942. Simpson's images of nude Black women in African masks from the early 1990s are particularly poignant, given the context of her life at the time.

One key aspect of the exhibition is the emphasis on the diversity of the contemporary Black female experience - check out for example Zanele Muholi's empowering "Miss (Black) Lesbian" series.

Ayana V. Jackson's work is inspired by Dr. Shatema Threadcraft's 2018 scholarly papers and presents counterimages that challenge the historical oppression of Black women. Jackson's images subvert colonial depictions of the forcibly labored Black body and capture moments of leisure and repose in the lives of 19th and early 20th century Black women.

Carrie Mae Weem's "When and Where I Enter, the British Museum" (2007) tackles instead European colonialism with Weems placing herself among the museum's tourists and ionic columns, invisible and anonymous, yet conspicuous at the same time.

The show invites therefore visitors to confront racial and sexual objectification and embodied resistance in the Black woman's experience. While celebrating the progress made by Black women in various fields and emphasizing the resilience, power, and multiplicity of Black women's identities and acknowledging the historical stereotypes they have faced, it is also a call to action.

Hopefully, we will see this event expanding and travelling to other European countries: it is indeed impossible to think about Black women slaves throughout history without pondering about the modern odyssey of migrant women from Africa, some of them pregnant or accompanied by their children, embarking on treacherous journeys to cross the Mediterranean and arriving by boat in Italy, where they may end up being vulnerable to exploitation. So, while "Black Venus" is a due celebration, it is also a way to raise awareness about the present-day challenges that Black women have to face.

Image credits for this post

1, 3, 6, 12 and 13. Installation views of "Black Venus" at Somerset House, copyright Tim Bowditch

2. Renee Cox, HOTT-EN-TOT (1993-1994)

4. Amber Pinkerton Photo Booth, Sabah, Girls Next Door , 2020, © Courtesy the Artist and Alice Black

5.  Ayana V. Jackson, "Anarcha" , 2017 © Courtesy of the Artist and Mariane Ibrahim

7. Coreen Simpson, "Black Girl with Eye" (1992) from "About Face" series, Courtesy of the artist

8. Carrie Mae Weems - "Not Manet's Type" (2010) © Carrie Mae Weems, Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York)

9. Ming Smith, Instant Model, 1976 © Courtesy of the artist and Pippy H ouldsworth Gallery, London.

10. Zanele Muholi, "Miss Lesbian I, Amsterdam", from the series "Miss (Black) Lesbian" (2009) 

11. Ming Smith, "Me as Marilyn", 1991 © Courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London

Beneath the Surface: The Multilayered Artistry of Ebony Patterson's Tapestries

In yesterday's post we mentioned an artist included in Seattle Art Museum's exhibition "Femme Noire" (until 30th September) that for her vividly bright and clever photographic compositions may be co-opted one day by the fashion industry.

But there are other talented artists in that event that, at some point, may attract the attention of the fashion industry.

Among the others there is Ebony G. Patterson, a visual artist and educator originally from Kingston, Jamaica but now based in Chicago.

The 2023 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American art, Patterson has undergone a significant artistic journey.

She initially focused on creating mixed media paintings, drawings, and collages, primarily on paper. Throughout her evolving career, the artist consistently explored the female body as a central theme in her work.

Her early "Venus Investigations" series, for instance, explored the objectification of the female torso, often depicted without a head, anonymously challenging contemporary notions of female self-image and beauty standards. These explorations provocatively extended to taboo topics like the vagina.

As her artistic journey progressed, Patterson embraced various mediums, incorporating photographs, fabrics, and found objects into more intricate and colorful compositions. She began addressing social issues, such as violent crimes, and explored the concept of masculinity within the Dancehall culture and the representation of homosexuality in a predominantly homophobic environment.

Behind her more recent multi-textured and multi-layered tapestries lies a celebration of surface aesthetics. Patterson skillfully combines in them torn papers, tassels, appliqués, beads and jewelry to create visually stunning gardens that gleam with glitter and burst with vibrant colors.

Yet, behind their intricate and multi-layered nature, Patterson's artworks hide dichotomies: the artist juxtaposes indeed beauty with more profound themes addressing social issues.

While initially appearing celebratory, her compositions draw viewers in, encouraging them to uncover truths related to class-based racial issues, social divisions, and political violence. Through these elaborate surfaces the artist looks at the legacies inherent in postcolonial spaces and pays tribute to the lives of those who have been rendered socially invisible.

In Patterson's mixed-media tapestries, there are also hidden undertones, pointing at grief and mourning experienced by many women, something smbolised by hands and limbs that seem to reach out amidst a tangle of appliqued elements and beads.

Patterson's gardens incorporating fabrics and paper flowers, hint at the ideas of death, rebirth, and regeneration: while the inclusion of butterflies and monarchs symbolizes the dichotomous aspects of life, the garden in itself, a recurring motif in her work, serves as a metaphor for postcolonial states, where beauty conceals underlying trauma and violence. Therefore Patterson's art continually challenges viewers, making them feel slightly uncomfortable in their contemplation and luring them into her intricate yet unsettling compositions.

Patterson's innovative approach to utilizing various materials to express the language of art suggests that she could bring fresh perspectives also to the fashion industry.

Her understanding that all materials are valid for artistic navigation and expression may indeed breathe new life into those contemporary collections burdened by fashion fatigue.